# When did hats stop being mandatory? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 7, 2014, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-hats-stop-being-mandatory/680712 "2014-02-07T01:23:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-hats-stop-being-mandatory/680712/21 "2014-02-08T10:58:54Z")
> [@Desert\_Dumpster](#): > > Certainly I “grasp the fact”, as you snottily put it, that a hat _can be_ a practical item of clothing. But fashion forcing one to wear a hat all the time is hardly practical. I would hazard a guess that you live in an area with more severe weather than my present location. In any case, _always_ wearing a hat seems stupid, as no matter where you are, there will be some times when the weather is benevolent enough that you don’t need a hat, and indeed, a hat would be uncomfortable (on a hot day, for instance). (And what is it that you think changed about them practical considerations when hats ceased to be universally worn? Very early global warming?) Hats are _essential_ for shade when it’s sunny. A sunburned head is extremely uncomfortable (and potentially very dangerous, causing anything from sunstroke to skin cancer), and the shade from a hat, along with a decent pair of sunglasses, is needed for protecting your eyes from UV. I live in Australia, where the light can get very harsh, and where UV is a serious problem. But it’s hardly the only sunny place on Earth. A light cotton sun hat or a straw hat will keep your head cooler than a bare head in direct sunlight, I can tell you that from a great deal of personal experience. What changed? Fashion, mainly. You only need to look at skinny jeans to see that fashion can lead to some extremely impractical (as well as ugly) results. You insulted me first, so don’t get defensive when I call you on it. You’re the guy who called me “insane” and “stupid” for wearing hats. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-hats-stop-being-mandatory/680712/22 "2014-02-08T11:28:04Z")
**Shakester** ’s right; hats are essential outdoor wear in parts of Australia because it’s hot and dangerously sunny. Obviously we don’t all wear hats all the time (and I’ve never seen someone wearing a “real” hat with corks around the brim), but it’s a well known fact many (most?) primary schools have a “no hat, no play” policy whereby children don’t get to play outside at lunchtime if they haven’t got a hat. ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Dumpster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Desert\_Dumpster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Dumpster)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-hats-stop-being-mandatory/680712/23 "2014-02-08T16:24:29Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > Hats are _essential_ for shade when it’s sunny. A sunburned head is extremely uncomfortable (and potentially very dangerous, causing anything from sunstroke to skin cancer), and the shade from a hat, along with a decent pair of sunglasses, is needed for protecting your eyes from UV. I live in Australia, where the light can get very harsh, and where UV is a serious problem. But it’s hardly the only sunny place on Earth. A light cotton sun hat or a straw hat will keep your head cooler than a bare head in direct sunlight, I can tell you that from a great deal of personal experience. > > What changed? Fashion, mainly. You only need to look at skinny jeans to see that fashion can lead to some extremely impractical (as well as ugly) results. > > You insulted me first, so don’t get defensive when I call you on it. You’re the guy who called me “insane” and “stupid” for wearing hats. My. my, aren’t we sensitive. Actually, I called _the constant, habitual wearing of hats no matter what_ stupid. I didn’t insult you personally. But feel aggrieved if you wish. In any event, there is such a thing as a warm day when it isn’t particularly sunny. You may looooove your hat(s). But that doesn’t mean they’re always practical. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-hats-stop-being-mandatory/680712/24 "2014-02-08T17:30:40Z")
I was born in 1961, and my unscientific take is that men AND women stopped wearing hats in the mid 1970s. My sense is also that there was no simple, practical reason for this (like smaller cars). Rather, men stopped wearing hats at the same time that they stopped wearing jackets and ties to non-formal events. ALl kinds of events that NOBODY dresses formally for any more USED to be considered a Very Big Deal. In 1971, when my Mom first took me and my brothers to Ireland, she made sure we all wore little suits and ties. Back then, going on a plane (or to church, or to a ballgame, or to a family Christmas gathering) was a Very Big Deal, and we were supposed to dress up for it. People stopped wearing hats around the time women started wearing sweatpants on a plane, around the time men started wearing shorts and t-shirts to a ballgame, around the time kids started wearing blue jeans to church. In the mid Seventies. Everything seemed to get more casual then. ---
**Author:** ![nevadaexile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@nevadaexile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevadaexile)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-hats-stop-being-mandatory/680712/25 "2014-02-08T18:16:19Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > I was born in 1961, and my unscientific take is that men AND women stopped wearing hats in the mid 1970s. > > My sense is also that there was no simple, practical reason for this (like smaller cars). Rather, men stopped wearing hats at the same time that they stopped wearing jackets and ties to non-formal events. > > ALl kinds of events that NOBODY dresses formally for any more USED to be considered a Very Big Deal. In 1971, when my Mom first took me and my brothers to Ireland, she made sure we all wore little suits and ties. Back then, going on a plane (or to church, or to a ballgame, or to a family Christmas gathering) was a Very Big Deal, and we were supposed to dress up for it. > > People stopped wearing hats around the time women started wearing sweatpants on a plane, around the time men started wearing shorts and t-shirts to a ballgame, around the time kids started wearing blue jeans to church. In the mid Seventies. Everything seemed to get more casual then. I was born in 1966 and I grew up out west (hence the name) but other than cowboy hats on the odd guy I don’t remember hats being commonly worn in the early 1970s. While the style of dress was more casual in the area of Nevada I grew up at, even during trips to the Bay Area and Sacramento I don’t remember men wearing hats as part of their ensemble. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-hats-stop-being-mandatory/680712/26 "2014-02-08T21:05:51Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > People stopped wearing hats around the time women started wearing sweatpants on a plane, around the time men started wearing shorts and t-shirts to a ballgame, around the time kids started wearing blue jeans to church. In the mid Seventies. Everything seemed to get more casual then. This isn’t entirely correct. The near-disappearance of hats worn mainly as a component of formal and business suits was well underway long before the Seventies, until which time dress clothes remained de rigeur for air travel and the other social settings mentioned upthread. ---
**Author:** ![No\_umlaut\_for\_U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea5d25/32.png) [@No\_umlaut\_for\_U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_umlaut_for_U)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-hats-stop-being-mandatory/680712/27 "2014-02-08T22:01:03Z")
Agreed. Hats were pretty much gone by the mid-60s. Did women’s hats disappear with Vatican II, when the freedom of women churchgoers to go to mass bareheaded? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-hats-stop-being-mandatory/680712/28 "2014-02-08T22:03:23Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Not only were hats once more or less mandatory, you had to make sure you were wearing the correct hat. Felt in winter, straw in summer. Those who violated these rules were subject to ridicule and more. [Straw hat riots.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_Hat_Riot) > > One way to study the hat/no hat trend is to look at crowd pictures from Shorpy. It was worse than just rioting. From your linked site: > [@](#): > > In 1924, one man was murdered for wearing a straw hat. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-hats-stop-being-mandatory/680712/29 "2014-02-08T22:36:42Z")
Won’t someone spare a thought for the poor hatters? Can you _imagine_ just how many firms went bankrupt when the whole population stopped wearing hats? ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-hats-stop-being-mandatory/680712/30 "2014-02-08T22:44:25Z")
I myself, love hats. Screw fashion. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-hats-stop-being-mandatory/680712/31 "2014-02-08T23:04:00Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Not only were hats once more or less mandatory, you had to make sure you were wearing the correct hat. Felt in winter, straw in summer. Those who violated these rules were subject to ridicule and more. [Straw hat riots.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_Hat_Riot) Sounds like an excuse to beat up the Irish. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-hats-stop-being-mandatory/680712/32 "2014-02-08T23:20:36Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > My understanding is that men’s hats went out of fashion as automobile interiors grew more close. > [@svd678](#): > > In my '41 Ford I could wear a fedora; in the '50 Chevy I couldn’t. Well, there ya go. > [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Mine too. I read that the hat declined in popularity along with the increased presence of headrests in cars. > > Of course, I read that in L.M. Boyd’s newspaper column, so it’s got about a 35 - 40% likelihood of being bullshit… I admit that could very well be where I learned it too but am not sure. Geez, haven’t thought of Boyd in years. [I see he died back in 2007](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LM_Boyd). > [@astorian](#): > > I was born in 1961, and my unscientific take is that men AND women stopped wearing hats in the mid 1970s. No, I remember most of the 1960s, and hats weren’t being worn. > [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Sounds like an excuse to beat up the Irish. Since when do you nmeed an excuse to beat up the Irish? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-hats-stop-being-mandatory/680712/33 "2014-02-08T23:43:53Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > Won’t someone spare a thought for the poor hatters? Can you _imagine_ just how many firms went bankrupt when the whole population stopped wearing hats? They went positively mad. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-hats-stop-being-mandatory/680712/34 "2014-02-09T03:54:06Z")
Hats never went out of fashion; [the fashion](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball_cap) [of hats](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoodie) [has changed.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandana#Bandanna) ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-hats-stop-being-mandatory/680712/35 "2014-02-09T12:32:53Z")
Hmmm… just got new glasses and read this title (on my kindle) as “When did HATE stop being mandatory?” Needless to say, I clicked right in to find out who I’m now permitted to stop hating. It might have been a real question. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-hats-stop-being-mandatory/680712/36 "2014-02-09T13:09:37Z")
Hats stopped being mandatory long before there were headrests, at least ten years before. When I was a kid, kids wore hats only for warmth and I just never started. I was 21 in 1958. Now that I am bald, I mostly wear a hat either for sun protection, rain protection, or warmth. I wear a tuque all winter. But if I can go hatless on a warm summer evening, I will. But I know my grandfather would as soon go out without a hat as without pants. My father a bit less so, but still hats were de rigeur. He never wore a straw hat, though, neither, as far as I recall, did my grandfather. But I have a photo of a baseball game at Shibe Park around 1920 and then men were all wearing straw hats as well as ties. ---
**Author:** ![Susanann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@Susanann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susanann)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-hats-stop-being-mandatory/680712/37 "2014-02-09T22:55:16Z")
> [@No\_umlaut\_for\_U](#): > > Did women’s hats disappear with Vatican II, when the freedom of women churchgoers to go to mass bareheaded? Yup! That is the way I remember it. Most men stopped wearing hats at the same time-but I never knew the connection. (Notable exceptions are the black ladies on Sundays in church, Amish women, and real cowboys all still wear hats.) ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-hats-stop-being-mandatory/680712/38 "2014-02-10T06:18:56Z")
In the 70s, Bob Newhart wore a hat on his daily commute between his Chicago condo and office. Mary Tyler Moore threw off a hat while crossing a Minneapolis street. Maybe they weren’t total anachronisms. ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-hats-stop-being-mandatory/680712/39 "2014-02-10T07:37:09Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Not only were hats once more or less mandatory, you had to make sure you were wearing the correct hat. Felt in winter, straw in summer. Those who violated these rules were subject to ridicule and more. [Straw hat riots.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_Hat_Riot) Wow, that’s awesome. I remember a scene in _Pride of the Yankees_ where some of the team, on a train between cities, grabbed Babe Ruth’s straw hat and each took a bite. I don’t recall if it was a question of season, or just a prank. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-hats-stop-being-mandatory/680712/40 "2014-02-10T14:04:36Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > Hats never went out of fashion; [the fashion](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball_cap) [of hats](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoodie) [has changed.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandana#Bandanna) None of those enjoy the near-universality of the kinds of hats in question. Even the fedoras, homburgs and straw boaters are still around, only much more marginalized. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-hats-stop-being-mandatory/680712.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-hats-stop-being-mandatory/680712.md?page=3)